The one question that all true philosophers seek to answer
Since the beginnings of Western philosophy in ancient Athens, one question has stood above all others: the Question of Being. To modern minds, warped by twentieth century philosophers who dismissed metaphysics as unimportant, it seems an abstract and irrelevant question. But like all true philosophy, it is a question born out of wonder—wonder at the sheer fact that the universe has come to be. In this wonder, the philosopher asks: what Being?
History’s greatest philosophers have wrestled with this question, and given different answers. In On Being, David Haines surveys the approaches of four of these philosophers to the Question of Being, along with some of their major interpreters: Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, and Martin Heidegger.
This first volume surveys Plato’s approach to the Question of Being. Readers will find an overview of the most relevant sections of Plato’s dialogues, followed by an analysis of three key contemporary interpreters of Plato: Stanley Rosen, Paul Ricoeur, and Giovanni Reale. Finally, David Haines presents his own close study and analysis of Plato’s approach in three key dialogues: the Parmenides, the Theaetetus, and the Sophist On Being is an ideal scholarly introduction to the Question of Being for students of philosophy looking to get to grips with the one question that all true philosophers seek to answer.